NBAA Vol. 5 Chapter 3 Part 1
CHAPTER 3
A few hours after Reito had defeated the final Battle Golem, he used the Crystal to get out of the Forest of the Abyss with his friends. They all rode the Wolf Cart that Ullr pulled.
They had retrieved much of the precious resources they collected in the ruins. They had more or less satisfactorily pulled off their objective. Now they just had to return to the city and rest for a bit.
In the Wolf Cart, Reito was sleeping on Kotomin’s lap while he groaned.
“Huh… My body hurts.”
“That’s because you overdid it!” Kotomin commented.
Dain added, “Why don’t you use ‘Recovery Boost’ on your body to get better?”
“I don’t have enough magic left, so it’s impossible.”
After the fight with the Battle Golem, Reito had used too much magical energy, and he was completely exhausted.
While Reito was sleeping, his friends were lost in their thoughts. Kotomin was peacefully lending her lap to Reito while Dain was looking at his newly acquired items. Gonzo was lying down in the back while Suramin was on watch, sitting on his chest.
“Purupuru.”
Hitomin pasted itself to Reito’s face.
“It feels good and refreshing, but it’s hard to breathe.”
“Hitomin, come here.”
“Purupuru.”
Kotomin put Hitomin in her arms. The Slimes also had a role in their adventure in the ruins. Reito stayed lying down as Kotomin pet Hitomin in her arms.
“You did a great job, huh, Hitmomin?”
“Pururun.”
“Reito, those are Hitomin’s boobs. Nasty.”
“These are boobs?”
Reito was surprised while Dain looked at him and then noticed something and was surprised.
“Reito, what’s up with your pupils!?”
“What? My pupils?”
“Your right eye is red!?”
“No way!?”
Reito pulled out his dissection knife and used “Matter Transmutation” to change it into a makeshift mirror. He looked at his right eye, and it was just as Dain had said, red.
“Woah, it really is red. I must not be getting enough sleep.”
“No, that’s not the color of bloodshot eyes. Are you okay!? Let’s go to a clinic?”
“What… I don’t wanna get a shot.”
“I’ll hold your hand.
Reito wanted to check what was going on so he asked Airis.
『Riiiis!!』
『Who could it be!! I thought you would be out of name jokes by now… Don’t worry about your eyes. You are just still under the influence of the Blade Demon’s effects.』
『What do you mean?』
『In other words, it’s proof you are able to make full use of your Blade Demon abilities. When you fully awake as a Blade Demon, both your eyes glow red.』
『What, I didn’t know that.』
『What difference does it make? Mr. Reito’s face was printed on a Wanted poster a while ago, right? Now, if someone recognized you, they might be fooled because your pupils are a different color.』
『That’s true… But I feel like the people I know will be surprised.』
『Well, what can we do about it? Nothing is wrong with you, so don’t be worried.』
『Got it.』
After finishing communications, Reito continued staring at his dagger and remembered something. It was the mirror sword that he returned to the dwarf that repaired Caledfwlch for him.
“Ullr, stop for a second.”
“Woof?”
“What’s going on?”
“I wanted to use the skill I just learned… ‘Recovery Boost’.”
Reito had recovered some of his magical energy after resting and used it to heal his body and get off the Wolf Cart. He wouldn’t be able to do much, but he should be able to swing his sword.
Reito used ‘Gravity Strike Blade’ and swung his Extermination Blade with one hand.
“Hmph!!”
Because the gravity was supplementing his magic, he was able to swing it with the right speed.
“If I use this skill, it feels like I’m not holding a sword at all.”
He should be able to use his dual sword style more often now.
Up to now, he used the Iceclad sword that he would produce, but compared to a real sword, it wasn’t very durable. If possible, Reito wanted to use the Reflection Sword.
“That sword must cost a ton of money, though,” Reito thought that no matter how much he saved he wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Reito asked Dain just to check, “Hey, Dain. What is a good way to make a ton of money quickly? I want a few hundred gold coins.”
“I don’t know… You could sell some magical crystals.
『NO!! YOU CAN’T SELL THOSE』Airis shouted in Reito’s head.
“Um, is there any other way?”
“Dain thought about it for a while before continuing, “you could get a high-rank quest? What is your rank?”
“I’m a C rank… It went up after the fight with the Rotten Dragon.”
“In that case, I also went up,” Gonzo added.
All the adventurers involved in the battle with the Rotten Dragon had their ranks increased. That went for everyone, not just Reito and Gonzo.
Usually, to get a rank increase, you would have to take a test.
“If I were A-rank, maybe I could get all the money at once,” Reito said, and Dain nodded.
“No shit. How about you take the test?”
“Mmm… I’ll think about it.”
He heard Airis’s voice again.
『Did you forget your initial goal of not wanting to stand out very much? I guess it’s a little late to say that.』
Reito wryly smiled at Airis’s comment.
“Do I have to pay money to take the exam?”
“Yes, that’s right. It costs one gold coin. You also have a lot of prep work to do.”
“It’d be no problem for you, Reito,” Kotomin added. Dain shook his head.
“I don’t know… the number of quests after the Rotten Dragon has severely decreased. There aren’t many monsters to put aside for the test. I think the test has changed a lot and it won’t be the same as past years.”
“That’s so annoying…”
So, it would be difficult to make money quickly, Reito thought. He asked Airis about it to be safe.
『Airis, is there any way I can make money quickly?』
『Why don’t you try participating in some kind of tournament?』
『Tournament?』
『A battle festival. There’s a battleground in the city, right?』
『Ah, that…』
In the city, there was a building called the Battlegrounds. There were a bunch of monsters gathered by merchants, and adventurers came to battle with the monsters night and day. They called that event a “Battle Festival.”
Adventurers participating in the Battle Festival usually had the goal of testing their strength and making money in mind.
Adventurers who want to participate pay an entry fee. They fight with a monster on a court of sorts, and they are rewarded with significantly more money than the entry fee. If they lose, they lose the money, but they can get treatment from on-site doctors, so there’s no chance of dying. However, you are charged a high treatment fee.
It’s an extremely suspect festival, but many adventurers participate in making a little spending money. Ordinary people also go to spectate the fights, and there is a lot of gambling. It’s a sort of tourist spot of the city.
Airis continued, 『you can anonymously participate in the Battle Festival, so you could just wear a disguise.』
『I see, how much is the entry fee?』
『The adventurer can decide for themselves. The more you bet, the more money you can get. Of course, the more money you put down, the stronger the monster will be.』
『I see. I only have one coin.』
『There’s no way. Haven’t you earned more money?』Airis poked fun at Reito.
『I’ve spent it all on premium dog food for Ullr, and Suramin and Hitomin are also addicted to grapes recently. Kotomin fishes her own fish, but yeah…』
『You went broke paying for your pets!! You can’t spoil them!!』
『But in all seriousness, there aren’t any jobs at the guild, so my income has been lower. I think it would cost about 300 gold coins to buy the reflection sword… I’ll bet one coin, and then I can keep putting that back into like eight or nine successive rounds.』
『If you do that, you can get 500 coins after nine rounds.』
『There we go!! Let’s do ten rounds! I can become a millionaire!!』
『It would make the managers pass out, for sure.』
Reito decided to participate in the Battle Festival when he got back to Adventure City.
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